The number of suspicious betting alerts has fallen in the second quarter of the year, a report released by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) revealed this week.
Overall Comparison
According to the published information, there is a 41% decrease in the number of suspicious betting alerts on both a sequential base and year-over-year, as the Q2 saw 38 alerts flagged to the integrity organization, down from the 64 reports it received in Q1 2021 and the 65 alerts flagged to IBIA in Q2 2020.
15 countries around the globe reported suspicious betting activities during the quarter, with the majority of the alerts, 18, coming from Europe, where Germany and Russia topped the list with four each. Six alerts, which were generated in relation to eSports events, were not allocated to a specific location, while South America and Asia registered five each, and both Africa and North America accounted for two.
Soccer Betting
Betting on soccer matches topped the reports with 16 alerts, almost double the amount of suspicious reports that originated from table tennis, nine, and almost triple the number of alerts allocated to both eSports and tennis, six.
The number of occasions with suspicious soccer betting was up 33% compared to the 12 reports initiated in the first quarter of the year. Year-over-year, soccer alerts jumped 400%, as there were only four occasions reported in Q2 2020 when sporting calendars globally were disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Tennis Alerts
The decrease in the total number of reported suspicious betting activities was mainly due to the significant drop in the number of reports originating from tennis events, as the quarter saw the lowest ever reading since IBIA began producing such reports in 2015.
Compared on a sequential base, the six alerts in Q2 2021 represent a 300% drop from the 18 in Q1 2021, and a decrease of 433% from the 26 reports seen in Q2 2020.
Out of the six reported in the second-quarter events, two matches were out of the scope of the main tennis tours and were reported to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). IBIA outlined in the quarterly report that some of the players involved in those events “may fall within the scope of that body’s the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).”
Established in 2005, IBIA is the central hub of the licensed sports betting industry, striving for integrity to protect global sport and the business by relying on close partnerships and sharing of information.